The Things We Put Off + Easy Quiche

Although I am morally opposed to the inordinate waste of moving households every few years, as our family seems to do, there are some clear benefits. For one, it keeps us a bit more in touch with our material accumulation than most folks seem to be. Ever wonder how much all your stuff weighs, just hire somebody to pack it all up and you are sure to find out. Mind-boggling, I can tell you.

Another good thing: every few years, we are forced to confront all those niggling little tasks that seem to get put off. Because when it’s time to pack up your house, staring at you in the face are all those little reminders that you cannot ignore any longer.



Taxes going back to college years - Shred me! Shred me!

 You know what I mean. The post-it on the bulletin board (nearly covered up by other notes) that reminds you to schedule a physical exam. The paperwork lying at the bottom of a pile on the corner of your desk that is needed to transfer your 401k from your last employer. The heap of children’s artwork or vacation photos you developed that you’ve been meaning to frame/archive/send to grandparents. The bags of clothing/household goods in the back of the closet that you need to drop off at Goodwill. All those lovely little tasks we put off, and put off, and put off.


Also, after we’ve moved we have a nice excuse to get in touch with the friends and family members we’ve neglected over the past months/years – people we surely care about, but just haven’t made the time to call or email lately. Hi, how are you? I miss you! What’s new with me? Oh, well, we just moved again, here’s our new address… So that’s another good thing about moving, too.

I sometimes shake my head at how hard it is to make myself do the little things I don’t quite feel like doing. What I forget is how marvelous it feels once I’ve completed those tasks. My psychic (and physical) load is a bit lighter. I have cleared space for other things I’d rather be doing. And more often than not, the task I’ve completed actually benefits me or somebody else, sending good energy out into the world rather than my guilty energy.



Rollover forms I started a year and a half ago?


Lately I’ve been re-reading a wonderful book called “It’s Hard to Make a Difference When You Can’t Find Your Keys” by Marilyn Paul, a psychologist and practicing Buddhist who specializes in helping people become organized. There are some great practical tips in there, but the main value of the book for me is the deeper stuff she talks about. What do my things mean to me, and do I treat them in a way that is congruent with my feelings? (The same goes for relationships, by the way.

For me, getting ready to move this time around has meant confronting old clothes I love that simply don’t fit anymore. And accepting that they are highly unlikely to ever fit again now that I’ve had two children. Taking a big breath, assigning those items their proper place and value in the Universe, and allowing myself to give them away has been enormously helpful in learning to accept my body as it is right now.

1987-88: the glory years.

Likewise for the boxes of school memorabilia. Looking over handwriting homework, report cards, childhood poems and drawings with my children has helped them see me as a person who was once a little girl like them. A few years ago, I gathered up my old math and spelling bee trophies and took a picture of them for posterity. Then dumped them all in the trash. That was a good start, but it took finally going through the various congratulation letters, articles, etc. from my junior high days to finally put into proper perspective the high expectations I've always had for myself but never quite been able to meet. Those expectations have lost much of their power, now that I see so clearly how they were based on a few academically successful years that occurred during a pivotal time in my life.

So it’s all good stuff, taking care of these things we put off. And now I’ll ask you: what in your life have you been putting off? Want to get that great feeling of completing something that’s been nagging at you? To help you along, here’s an easy, impressive recipe for dinner that will give you some time to take care of neglected business while it bakes.

Easy Quiche (for those with absolutely no interest in rolling out pie crust)

Saute together in a little olive oil for a couple minutes:

• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, pressed or minced

Add, then cover on medium-low heat until thoroughly cooked (5-10 min.):

• Several large handfuls of spinach, chopped kale or any other chopped greens
• 1 medium potato or 1 large zucchini or 2 small summer squash or 1/2 of a sweet potato or 1 bell pepper, you get the idea – chopped
• ½ tsp thyme

Kale + summer squash

While the veggies cook, using your food processor to pulse together:

• ½ cup white flour
• ½ cup wheat flour
• ½ tsp salt

Sprinkle over it and pulse a couple more times:

• ¼ cup olive oil
• ¼ cup very cold water

Don't over mix. You want it to be crumbly and not uniform at all. Use a spatula to scrape it up and dump it into a pie plate. Use your fingers to press it evenly across the bottom and up the sides. Don’t worry about making things look pretty if you like the rustic look, but remember that it’s nice to have the crust higher than the filling, so press it right up to the lip of the plate.



Press! Press!



Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Don’t bother washing out the food processor from making the crust. Pulse together in this order:

• 1-1/2 cups sharp cheddar (or Swiss or any other type of) cheese (cut it into large pieces and then pulse in the processor to shred)
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 block of any type of tofu (break off into large chunks before adding)

 When the veggies are finished cooking, add salt to taste. At this point you can either fold them into the egg/tofu/cheese mixture if you like your quiche a bit chunky. Or if you have little ones and you don’t want them to be able to pick out their vitamins, add the veggies to the food processor and pulse until well blended. Pour into the pie plate and bake on a middle rack for 35 minutes or until well set. 

Cut into slices when slightly cool. Delicious the next morning for breakfast!

Running Late + Dinner Quickie

Before the kids, I was rarely late. Now, I’m rarely on time. Some might say kids are no excuse (these are people without children). I say that when combined, they are roughly equal to 100 pounds of excuses. You folks with kids know exactly what I’m talking about.

just try and make me do something i don't want to do...

So this morning we were driving to school and late as usual. To get anywhere around here means taking the main road, a two-laner with few opportunities to pass. Which means you are at the mercy of whatever or whomever is directly ahead of you. Today that included work on the phone lines. With no shoulder to speak of, our two lanes were down to one. Finally it was our turn to go, but the car in front of me stopped to say something to the police officer directing traffic. A neighbor walking by with his dog paused to join the conversation.

There they were, clearly enjoying their little chat. And there I was, fuming. Feeling embarrassed about bringing my daughter late to school yet again. Knowing we had at least fifteen more minutes of driving between us and the school. Not knowing what other roadblocks we might encounter on our way. I was tempted to lean on the horn. A little prod to interrupt the gabfest.

But as I sat waiting in the car, scrutinizing the faces of my suddenly talkative country neighbors, I realized how precious this moment was. You know, this is a spread out kind of place. Many people live some distance from the next house down the road. That's not really our situation, but whenever I run into somebody I know in town, I know it makes me feel connected and happy. Like hey, I belong here. I feel the same way when I’m driving and recognize someone heading in the opposite direction. I want to wave wildly at them. Hi! I see you! We know each other! Of course everyone else seems to drive looking straight ahead. I guess I’m more of a check out the scenery kind of gal.

It's likely that anyone who has lived in these parts for a long time would probably laugh if they read what I’m clumsily trying to say here. But they shouldn't mock. It was thoughts like these that kept me from letting loose a little extra anger and frustration into the world this morning. In the end, I cranked up the music, waited patiently until we could get moving again, and the girls and I sang along with Earth Wind and Fire for the rest of the drive to school. Note to Self: Next time I redraft my resume, remember to add "mobile dj" to the skills section.

As it happens, we were late coming home at the end of the day, too. Tired, chlorine-saturated kids and no leftovers to warm up for dinner. I resorted to my 20-minute standby: a trio of quickly prepared salads. Quinoa-corn, bean-tomato, greens. Pretty when piled up on a platter, pretty healthy, and pretty tasty, too. It's a little heavy on dirty dishes, but that's what spouses/partners are for, right?

Quinoa-Corn Salad

Bring 1-1/2 cups water to a boil, then add:

• 1 cup rinsed quinoa

While quinoa simmers for 15 minutes, combine in a large bowl:

• 1 cup thawed frozen corn (don't bother thawing if you're not eating right away)
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 green onions, sliced (or a handful of chopped chives or minced red onion)
• Cooked quinoa
• Salt to taste

Bean-Tomato Salad

In a medium bowl, combine:

• 1 can of kidney, pinto, black or cannellini beans, rinsed
• 1 cup chopped tomatoes (if using canned, drain the juice)
• 1 tablespoon balsamic or cider vinegar
• ¼ cup chopped parsley or cilantro (whenever I have a bunch of fresh herbs, I finely chop the stems and keep them in the freezer for things like this)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Greens
In a large bowl, toss:

• 3 cups of kale, shredded into ¼” ribbons, or 3 cups baby spinach, watercress, etc.
• Oil-and-vinegar based salad dressing to taste

To Serve: Spread the quinoa-corn salad in the center of a large platter. Make an indentation in the middle and mound the bean-tomato salad. Arrange the greens around the edge of the platter.

Essential Toppings:

• Something crunchy, like toasted sunflower seeds, walnuts or pepitas
• Something salty, like feta or goat cheese, or olives
• Something tangy (optional), like slivers of roasted red bell pepper or pickled vegetables or slices of sushi ginger
• Something sweet (optional), like sauteed onions and/or peppers, or chopped dried fruit

Starting Again + Dinnertime Woes

A couple weeks on a fast from Facebook and BOOM! Once again, I feel the urge to blog. Though the one-sided conversations in my head were never really tamed by Facebook, status posts did momentarily satisfy my need to share with the world. And unlike on my old blog, fb people quite often respond with comments of their own. Well, how very gratifying!

So, here’s a new twist: I’ll see if I can be active on fb and blog at the same time. Facebook to give me the social interaction I sorely miss, living out here in my isolated rural splendor… and blogging as a way to offload – um, I mean communicate – the thoughts I have that are over the heads of the two little girls who share my days.


Since food and gratitude continue to dominate my existence, I think the old Recipes for Abundance blog title can be kept. Even so, there will likely be fewer recipes and more stories/musings on parenting, partnering and living intentionally. I may throw in a few poems when the inspiration strikes.


**For those of you reading this who put the bug in my ear about restarting the blog, I owe you a big thank you for the encouragement. Even if you were just trying to get me to blab less and write more, I appreciate the nudge.**

I’ll leave you today with something from a book I’ve been reading lately, and the promise/warning of more reflections on this topic to come. The book is called The Hour that Matters Most: The Surprising Power of the Family Meal, by Les and Leslie Parrott. It’s full of lots of useful psychological study factoids, cute anecdotes and parenting tips, but this simple quote is what got my attention the other day:

“Better a dry crust eaten in peace than a house filled with feasting – and conflict.” Proverbs 17:1

Whoa there. I don’t know about how meals go at your house, but eating as a family at our house is often full of tension. Most days, I definitely prefer the time I spend preparing our tasty/all-food-groups-represented meals to the half hour we share at the dinner table, where Stephen and I grimly police the eating behaviors of two squirrely children. This is something I hope to change, but am struggling as to how to do it.

One (childless) friend recommends hiding the kids’ food in the backyard and making them search for it when they get hungry, an option I’m definitely going to exercise in the summer months. But for now they sit at table, bawling with unchewed food spilling from their open mouths, their seats and the floor below them covered in crumbs, their full water glasses knocked over onto the tablecloth. Calgon, take me away… if you have any strategies that make for a more enjoyable dinner time, fire away.